Statement from Ramblers Scotland
Following a meeting today of the Scottish executive committee of Ramblers Scotland Dennis Canavan, Convenor of Ramblers Scotland issued the following statement;
“The SCEC re-iterated its view that the decision taken by the Ramblers Board to cut Ramblers Scotland budget by 79% is completely unacceptable and we condemned the lack of meaningful response to the detailed submission sent to the Board from the Convener of Ramblers Scotland on behalf of the SCEC.We shall continue to urge the Board to increase the resources available to Ramblers Scotland and we agreed that the Ramblers Office in Scotland must remain open.
“We decided that the SCEC Working Group should continue its active consideration of options to give Ramblers Scotland a much greater degree of autonomy, including the option of independence, and we agreed that this should be on the agenda of the next meetings of the Scottish Council and the General Council so that the matter can be debated and decided by our members.
“In the meantime,we urge all members of Ramblers Scotland to stick with us and fight together to ensure the existence of an effective organisation in Scotland which will represent the interests of walkers.”
August 19th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Having waited with bated breath for the outcome of the above meeting, I have to say that I am extremely disappointed with the apparent lack of any real progress in resolving the issue of the “cuts”. To say, at this stage, that we “shall continue to urge the Board to increase the resources available to Ramblers Scotland” beggars belief given the short shrift given to their earlier submission. SCEC appear to be clutching at straws in the wind! And with regard to “we agreed that the Ramblers Office in Scotland must remain open” is it not a fact that said office is already closed.
The point is that we will shortly be entering the season of Group AGMs and if SCEC have not got their act together by then, and got their increased resources or alternatively got their “independent Ramblers Scotland” off the ground, they are going to be overtaken by events, because we are going to have a situation of disillusioned members, Groups folding because the current suggested level of funding for them is insufficient to operate and no one willing to serve on Committees, and ex-members who want to walk, going their own way, and forming their own local walking clubs outwith Ramblers.
August 19th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Mmm, I was a little disappointed myself. Unfortunately I couldn’t make the meeting but I did have a suspicion that not very much would be done at the moment. Incidentally, the Milnathort office is currently open, at least until the lease runs out. I think that perhaps you’re being a little unfair to SCEC - this situation was not of their making and it’s not so easy to simply ‘walk away’ from Ramblers GB. Ramblers Scotland has a lot invested in the UK-organisation. But I do agree with you that it’s unlikely the GB board will increase any resources to Scotland in the foreseeable future